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Chris Christie back in spotlight as Perry sags

Christie has indicated he is listening to big-money backers and Republican influence-makers. |
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But two other Republicans with ties to Christie insisted that the needle has not moved for the first-term chief executive. One of the sources suggested that Christie is simply being respectful to the New York donors whose help he will need in a New Jersey reelection bid by saying he’ll weigh their request for him to run.

Regardless, Christie’s timeframe to get back to the boosters falls after a multi-day fundraising swing through California to benefit the New Jersey Republican Party, including one at the home of former gubernatorial hopeful Meg Whitman, that he’ll be making this week.

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And it’s a trip that will let him interact with major donors nationally at a time when the push for him to run is reaching a fevered pitch.

Christie has been adamant about not running when asked by reporters, asking at one point if he would have to commit suicide to convince people that his “no” was final.

He has also repeatedly said that he isn’t running because he did not feel in his heart he was “ready,” a phrase that would be tough to push past in a campaign. There is also the practical reality that Perry’s team is coming to terms with — as the crunch of the campaign approaches — putting together a modern-day presidential effort is an extremely hard process that benefits from a longer runway.

As POLITICO’s Mike Allen reported this morning, there are several reasons for Christie to stay out.

“He genuinely believes that he’s not prepared on an issue and substance basis to address all of the things you have to address as a candidate, and he’s leery of learning on the fly,” said a person close to Christie told Allen. “Two, the performance of Perry shows the dangers of late entry: It’s right in front of him. And while others use that as a reason for him to GET in, for him, it’s the opposite — it’s the reason that validates his decision NOT to get in this late. And the third is that … you sit and look at the map … and the path for Chris Christie [to get more delegates than Romney] is difficult to chart … If he gets in, the first thing he has to do is beat Perry and establish himself as the REAL anti-Romney. And the path to doing that is difficult: Perry’s not going to just drop out.”

Nonetheless, the conservative elite buzz over a potential Christie candidacy has kicked into overdrive in the past few weeks, including on the pages of the Weekly Standard and Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal. People like the Weekly Standard’s Bill Kristol, who has been actively on the hunt for an anti-Romney for months to no avail, have been aggressively hyping the possibility of Christie in the past few weeks.

Christie is imagined by the elites as a potential candidate who is both center-right and electable, someone who is not participating in the hard-right engagement of the current tea party political moment.

And Christie himself said over the past week that the window for someone else exists because the current crop of hopefuls is leaving a void.

Readers' Comments (827)

For sure the republican field lacks someone who can really fire up the party and get behind him. I don't know if Christie is the one either, but someone needs to come along who can hold his own with the democrats who are going all out to destroy anyone who dare to try and compete with the light weight they have in office currently.

Yes, let's get someone in there who wants to destroy our country like a Tea Party Anarachist. That's the answer. Christie is too reasonable for the Republican Party Tea Party Anarchists. He wants government. They want to destroy their own country.

Keep clinging to your "poll numbers" cons. That's the only the one has when saturated in desperation. By the way, try taking a class in statistics as you'll quickly realize a poll is only as good as the suckers who believe it. VOILA!! Here's a ouijii board, chant beads, voodoo doll and a direct line to Ms. Cleo. All combined should help you, those like you and the pathetically weak GOP field find ONE sacrificial lamb for Obama and the majority of America to feast on.

I really wish the non-tea party faction of the GOP would just create a 3rd party and let the Tea Party try to run their candidates under their dictates.

No reasonable candidate who understands that our country was built on the notion of divided government and the need to work with those who disagree with you will ever jump into this race if they are beholden to the "my way or the highway" approach of the Tea Party.

Bet Anne Coulter is on Christie's doorstep. She can't stand Perry or Romney.

Christie has a worse record than Romney, but hey in this political game it's obvious that the GOP elites give Perry zippo credit for what he did in Texas. No wonder Indies think the elite GOP is just as bad as the Liberal Democrats.